Trending Topics: The New Internet Chat

Some of my favorite early Internet memories came from visiting chat rooms: I started out using Microsoft Comic Chat and graduated to AOL chat rooms early on. When the Internet was young (and there wasn’t as much to do), it was pretty easy to become entranced by the number of random topics in which one could instantly discuss in real time. It was all honest fun, but I won’t lie, there was definitely that underlying sense of “OMG, I can totally lie about who I am, and no one will be the wiser.” This, of course, being a choice that many Internet users make to this day.

Having grown out of AOL, I moved on to vanilla IRC, where everything changed. Finally, an actual sense of community (and that desire to please the channel ops for some mod privileges). Yet somewhere along the line, ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger came along and usurped IRC by simply establishing presence: if you wanted to talk to someone, you just sent them an IM -- no more waiting around in the chat room to see if they’d pop in.

The Internet would be a happier place if we still used this, I think.

But the chat culture that we once knew and loved hasn’t disappeared completely, although its shape has changed significantly. IRC is still widely used, but these days it tends to be a tool too raw for use outside the geek set, where it’s frequently employed in conference “back-channels” or listener discussions for podcasts such as This Week in Tech. IM has become a de-facto mode of communication amongst friends and co-workers, so ubiquitous Google has begun to merge it with email (first with Gchat, and now with Google Wave). But for that random and serendipitous sense of discovery, where can the chat-hungry turn?

IRC still thrives in the podcasting and gaming worlds.

Using Twitter as a “chat room” has been the answer for many, although it’s not hard to tell why broadcast messaging crossed with the inability to filter might be construed as a misuse of the platform. Granted, this was even more of an issue before Twitter defaulted to showing only the replies of people you follow, but there was a time when it wasn’t uncommon to see someone demanding two chatters “get a (private) chat room!”

I never said they wouldn’t be creepy

FriendFeed (recently acquired by Facebook) hasn’t enjoyed the same widespread adoption as Twitter, but I think it’s a much better host for conversation. Comments on posts load almost as quickly as a live chat, and the ability to upload media expands its usefulness. But if it’s the random meetings by chance you miss, Omegle.com is your one-stop shop for finding a perfect stranger to engage in completely bizarre conversation. It’s your choice as to whether you want to play the straight man, or if you’d rather see how badly you can confuse your anonymous discussion partner (or worse).

Sidewiki lets you interject comments and links on existing pages

The near future looks very interesting for chat, particularly when it comes to a new Google technology that allows you to expand the definition of a “chat room.” Dubbed Sidewiki, the system allows users of a web site to discuss and share information with others in a dedicated side-panel. This is also reminiscent of StumbleUpon and GetGlue, two other addons that let you discuss web content without browsing away from the page you’re viewing. And a simple search for “chat” in the Firefox plug-in directory brings up a big list of real-time chat sidebars.

See? These people are already using it wrong and admit it!

Finally, though they may not be popular among the tech elite, simple chat rooms do still exist, from Yahoo Chat to Meebo. As our meatspace lives become increasingly intertwined with our online personas, it’s nice to know that there are still some safe havens where we can go to be our random, serendipitous selves.

Veronica Belmont is the co-host of Tekzilla and the host of PlayStation Network's Qore. Follow her on Twitter @veronica.

Comments

Why can't I talk to my TV and have it connect to IRC? To my family? To comment on a Tekzilla episode?

When devices get smarter, yet another revolution will happen with chat. Think about what happened with MMO's with having a venue to talk. The devices made it possible to connect "the last mile" to the gamer. So will it be with TV's and video screens. Talk to anyone, anytime, across languages even... in venues that matter... no keyboards. Maybe there will be less war and more understanding.

Just my 2 cents on this subject. I started using chat on an IBM mainframe in 1987, and saw the power of it back then. If chat were a car, today it would only be a 57 Chevy.

Welcome to Maximum PC Veronica! The twitter feeds said you were new around here.

Concerning your article. I think Google Wave is going to be the next big thing. From the keynotes that we've all seen, it looks like we're going to get IM and a more permanent twitter-esque form of communication rolled into one.

Chat rooms, social networks....they come and go. I would like to see a resurgence of simple chat rooms personally because if I get one more flippin' person flooding my Facebook page with Mafia wars or Farmville updates I'm going to delete my Facebook account.....that is as soon as I figure out how to even delete a facebook account. Because guess what....turns out my own (real) friends aren't actually very interesting! Also...wasn't there a time recently when getting that Christmas card from your Cousin you barely knew with updates on their kids caused a mandatory eye roll....because it was such a cliche? But now, in Facebook I have to hear about it every time little Jimmy takes a dump! Except now it's multiplied by 100!

Ok.....admittedly that's a Facebook and social network rant but the point is, is a real time chat room with random strangers would be a nice welcome for a change. I, like probably most here (or maybe not) deleted my My space account awhile ago and Twitter...well twitter is IMO the very definition of a fad. Artificial character limitations and it suffers from some of the same fundamental flaws as Facebook and My Space....it gets out of control and silly....even if you dont necessarily want it to.

It's micro fame.....it's for people that need that friend they haven't seen for 15 years saying "thats cool". Really? The fact that you walked the dog and had a burrito for dinner is "cool"? It's full circle patting each other on the back and saying good job. How is that going to help us grow as a society? Lying to each other and pretending to care isn't helping.

Yep....still ranting....which brings me to my point. What we all need right now is a good old fashion chat room flame war to realign the universe. To once again balance good and evil.

I have a dream people.

BTW....I dont want anyone here attempting to debate me on the Twitter 140 character artificial limitation point talking about how no body wants to read more than that.

"these days it tends to be a tool too raw for use outside the geek set,
where it’s frequently employed in conference “back-channels” or
listener discussions for podcasts such as This Week in Tech. IM has become a de-facto mode of communication amongst friends and co-workers"

local IRL friends, maybe...yes.

IRC is still utilized a lot more than you probably realize by "the geek set" (wtf does that even mean).I know you said it's widely used, but I think you're a little out of the loop when it comes to that topic. Of course you have your social networking fads that are going on right now...but that will change in the next few years.

So you're saying that non-internet savvy folks are heavy IRC users? I guess I'm more out of the loop than I thought! All jokes aside, of course it's used for more purposes than the ones I listed. I could have gone on ad nauseum about it, but why?

Awesome read, it makes me think about my experience, I have just started playing this MMO 7 days ago, that has a chat room that you use to talk to your alliance and its awesome :) Chat rooms are *Rad and very helpful also :)

... but if you analyse the odds, what are the chances that you will actually make any progress with her? We're a huge crowd of nerds that seems to be begging for her phone number (if she gave one to everyone who asked, her phone provider would sue her), while on the topic of creepy people who want dates.

some (but not most, dont go nuts now) of my fondest memories was the ol chat days which for me were the years 1999-2001. it seemed you could easily meet new and different people much easier, you really could be anyone you created yourself to be, pickin fights every now on then...it was fun. i tried a chatroom last year to see what was up and it was such a letdown. all these porn bots, spammers, pervs, no one who was real and not a bot had anything interesting to say. laaame. social networking just doesn't have that same something the old chats did and for you guys who used chats way before me know even better than me.

And so has maximum PC, who knew they employed such a georgous lady. Unless this picture fooled me and as you zoom out you get a look at here pear shaped body all 250Lbs.. lol but i don't think thats the case :) or at least thats what i will tell myself

When I first used the 'Net in '95, I remember discovering WBS (Web Broadcasting System; no longer around and hasn't been since around '99 or '00) & AIC (Alamak Internet Chat; it's still operating, but not with the users it had in the mid-'90s)...as well as a few other ones. Of course when Instant Messaging picked up it was the death of the web chat, but web chat is still around: web forums.